The Madras High Court has given the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) time till October 8 to file a status report on the Disproportionate Assets case involving Minister KT Rajenthra Bhalaji.

Reading through a status report filed by the Tamil Nadu government, the bench consisting of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha, set the deadline after the report stated that the probe was in its preliminary stage.

The report also said that the investigating officer has spoken only to a few witnesses in the case and that there are more to be questioned.

According to reports, the status report filed by the government will be under the custody of the Registrar (Judicial) of the Madras High Court and will be produced in the court as and when it is asked for.

KT Rajenthra Bhalaji, Tamil Nadu’s Milk and Dairy Development Minister is facing a probe into his alleged disproportionate assets amassed from 1996.

On June 12, the Madurai bench of Madras High Court ordered the DVAC to probe into the allegations of disproportionate assets by the minister. The case was filed by B Mahendran in 2013 demanding an investigation into the assets of KT Rajenthra Bhalaji, who was then the Minister for Information and Programme Implementation.

The petitioner had reportedly stated that the minister had purchased land in Devanatham and Tiruttangal for an amount that was below the market value. He was the Vice President of the Tiruttangal town panchayat in 1996.

The DVAC submitted to the bench that it had already conducted a preliminary inquiry after the petition was filed in 2013 and submitted a report to the government dropping all further proceedings.

The Bench expressed its dissatisfaction with the inquiry since the inquiry period was between 2011 and 2013.

The court was also told that the State government had accepted the negative report submitted by the DVAC 2014 and dropped all further proceedings against the Minister.